tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post3209545419663695182..comments2015-03-02T08:15:11.963-05:00Comments on In the Middle: Back to the Middle Ages in Arizona Higher EdJeffrey Cohenhttps://plus.google.com/110433684739546897626noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-2456223791255626632009-02-02T18:55:00.000-05:002009-02-02T18:55:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Rick Goddenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04109263756022001400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-77422036677109160142009-02-01T17:29:00.000-05:002009-02-01T17:29:00.000-05:00They should void logic from the philosophy departm...They should void logic from the philosophy department? On the contrary ... the absurdity of this medieval connection is proof that we need <I>more</I> logic in schools, not less! ASU should look to 13th-century Paris as an example, and ditch the overpriced textbooks for Aristotle. Maybe they can even teach the students to copy their own texts by hand, and then they won't need photocopiers either. Problem solved!afarberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05360008043608880302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-61349119043393568232009-02-01T14:21:00.000-05:002009-02-01T14:21:00.000-05:00I feel the need to call everyone's attention to th...<A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Coupling-Constants-Silicon-29-Landolt-Bornstein/dp/354045277X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top/marginalrevol-20" REL="nofollow">I feel the need to call everyone's attention to this book on Amazon as well,</A> a link also pirated from Margaret Soltan. Read the reviewers' comments.<BR/><BR/>No wonder if universities are having hard fiscal times, with books costing $8K each.Jeffrey J. Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-26913960281992768142009-02-01T13:25:00.000-05:002009-02-01T13:25:00.000-05:00I think there are brands of conservatism which pla...<I>I think there are brands of conservatism which place a lot of value on (and money in) education. </I><BR/><BR/>I can&#39;t speak to the right [and note that my use of &quot;the right&quot; rather than &quot;conservative&quot; is deliberate] in other countries, but...<BR/><BR/>Generally speaking, that&#39;s not the case in America. Putting aside my own anecdotal experience of contempt for higher education from certain right-wing members of my extended family....<BR/><BR/>First, there&#39;s the disdain for curiosity endemic to the American right, which itself dampens at the very least a liberal humanist education. <BR/><BR/>Second, valuing education, to my mind, means valuing educators, which means valuing their autonomy, job security, and providing them with a living wage, since without these things, research is stymied, and without research, there&#39;s not much difference between secondary and higher education. Corporatism [which is not identical to the American right in all its guises] of course values none of these things, at least not in the humanities, and when corporatism&#39;s almost realized goal for an entirely contingent academy is combined with the American right&#39;s anti-intellectualism, we have a poisonous environment for academics. Setting aside the &#39;contempt for the expert&#39; in evidence in various sections of the American Right [e.g., Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, &amp;c], we then have a respect for the degree without respect for either the academy or the educator. <BR/><BR/>This is precisely the environment Horowitz and his ilk favor. For more on all this, see Dinshaw on national funding for the humanities in <I>Getting Medieval</I>; Michael Bérubé, <I>What's Liberal About the Liberal Arts</I>; and the assembled works of Marc Bousquet, well-represented <A HREF="http://howtheuniversityworks.com/wordpress/" REL="nofollow">here.</A>Karl Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03353370018006849747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-88016790556274960692009-02-01T12:42:00.000-05:002009-02-01T12:42:00.000-05:00Really, Karl? I think there are brands of conserva...Really, Karl? I think there are brands of conservatism which place a lot of value on (and money in) education. Maybe not neo-cons so much, and maybe it's an education that upholds a conservative canon, but it's still worth keeping in mind. <BR/><BR/>I'm thinking of Southern Germany, with its conservative bent and excellent high schools and universities, I'm thinking of Alberta's conservatism and very good system of public education, and I'm thinking of all manner of Christian colleges, homeschool programs, etc., that emphasize reading the classics and picking up the linguistic skills to do so in the original. <BR/><BR/>The ideology might not be your ideology (or mine, for that matter), and hey, the pedagogy might not be our pedagogy either, but that doesn't diminish the fact that there are conservatives who value education highly at all levels.irinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14105686105741162480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-44646406636606040692009-02-01T10:42:00.000-05:002009-02-01T10:42:00.000-05:00I'd go for that, if they could figure out a way to...I'd go for that, if they could figure out a way to limit classroom access to just the server on which the documents resided.Another Damned Medievalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05231085915472400163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-4548537279679007462009-02-01T09:54:00.000-05:002009-02-01T09:54:00.000-05:00Strange to see a Republican standing up for higher...Strange to see a Republican standing up for higher education! <BR/><BR/>A funny thing here is that <I>photocopying</I> is the outdated technology. If they could invest <I>more</I> money, give the students all tablet computers [loaded w/ some good open source software], and convert all the rooms to smart classrooms, then they could dispense w/ photocopying altogether. With all that in mind, the temporal/technological heterogeneity of the present becomes much more interesting than the facile present vs. middle ages cliché.Karl Steelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03353370018006849747noreply@blogger.com